


The King and the Songbird

by ExhoLox



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Based on Hadestown, Character Study, DreamSMP - Freeform, Gen, Sad TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27926809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhoLox/pseuds/ExhoLox
Summary: Tommy was a foolish boy. It was a known fact that no one except Dream, Techno, Wilbur, and perhaps Phil were willing to admit aloud. Dream didn’t understand why this was, though.---Tommy was a foolish boy and he had come to realize that in the past two days. It was fact everyone knew to be true and one he refused to accept until now.---Character study of SMP!Tommy and SMP!Dream with heavy references to Hadestown.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 112





	The King and the Songbird

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: Hadestown and the DreamSMP are good.  
> Okay jokes asides, Hadestown and the DreamSMP have some really good parallels esp in regards to the similarities between Dream and Hades and Tommy and Orpheus. Decided to do a character study based on Hadestown. Comments are appreciated since I love talking about DreamSMP.

Tommy was a foolish boy. It was a known fact that no one except Dream, Techno, Wilbur, and perhaps Phil were willing to admit aloud. Dream didn’t understand why this was, though.

The boy was reckless. He was filled with fire and hurricanes and was doomed to end in tragedy, but Dream couldn’t really care about how Tommy was doomed to end. He was concerned about how he was going to doom the server. 

Dream created this server with his own bare hands. He laboured and laboured to make sure everyone had enough to provide for themselves. He gave this land filled with more riches than a man would need. The green grass, the caves that glittered with gold and emeralds, the seas made of lava and water that held riches around them, what more could he give them? 

But no, it just wasn’t enough. They fought against him and it ended with a victory that was bittersweet and tragic, but Tommy had already begun to dig his claws into the hearts of his companions. He couldn’t really blame them. When Tommy spoke he demanded you to listen to him whether you wanted to or not. He was like a siren, leading others to the same foolish dream of what they called “freedom”. A songbird that sang a song of death disguised as hope. So in the end you couldn’t blame Dream for what he did. 

He had to cut the songbird’s throat. When Eret betrayed him, when he was exiled from his own land, when both of his brothers brought down the destruction of the country he helped build, when he saw his father with a sword stained with the blood of his kin, even when he saw the walls being built, Tommy never stopped singing.

It drove him insane. Dream’s world was in tune and in time, but Tommy and his merry band of misfits and fools messed it up. They messed with Dream’s world and they messed with Dream. So Dream waited and waited and waited and  _ finally _ he had his chance. 

He couldn’t even scrounge up an inkling of pity when he watched Tommy get banished from his own land and that’s because he was smart. He was smart enough not to let the songbird’s song lead him down a dangerous path like the others. He freed New L'manburg of its chains and allowed it to grow because now they couldn’t be manipulated by the songbird.

And in a way he saved Tommy because now there was no one to listen to his song now. No one would be able to indulge him by listening to his songs. Sure, everyone could keep in contact with him, but would anyone do that? Sure Tommy had what was left of Wilbur by his side, but that was  _ it.  _ His own flesh and blood didn’t care about him, one of them even mocked him for his false ideals of heroism. 

It brought a smile to Dream’s face. One that wasn’t etched with black ink on quartz or one backed by blood and justly cruelty. Just a simple smile because now the world could be put back into tune. Everyone would learn to listen and sing the melody Dream provided to them. They would finally sing together and in tune.

Of course there was still so much more work to do. Tommy may have been gone but his essence and the song he sang was still being carried in the air and in the hearts of his friends. But he had gotten the most important out of the way. Sure teaching the citizens of New L’Manburg the tune he created would be a challenge, but it wouldn’t be impossible. All he had to do was change his tone, his notes, keep the same melody and the orchestra he created would be in perfect harmony.

\---

Tommy was a foolish boy and he had come to realize that in the past two days. It was fact everyone knew to be true and one he refused to accept until now. Because now he was here. Exiled and doomed to live a life of loneliness. The citizens of a country that used to be his promised they would support, but how long would that last? It would only be a matter of time before Dream led them to his side and Tommy would be truly alone. And forget about Phil and Techno. They may have been his flesh and blood but Tommy wasn’t going to give a damn about anything they had to say.

Because yeah, Tommy was foolish, but he wasn’t a goddamn idiot. He was foolish enough to not think far enough ahead, but wasn’t stupid enough to crumble to whatever lies people were going to feed to him.

Wilbur, Techno, and Dream all tried it and they failed because Tommy knew exactly what kind of person he and they were. They were trying to get him to believe in these false ideals and crush whatever morals Tommy had learned, but Tommy wouldn’t let them because Tommy was far from stupid.

They thought he was a bird they had to take under their wing. One they had to cultivate and teach but Tommy was no little bird. He was forced to jump out the nest way too soon but he promised to never look back. He had to leave his past, his innocence, and his childhood behind because there was nothing for him there. The only thing he held onto when he was shoved into a life of war and misery and small glimpses of peace was the little hope he had.

Because the world was messed up. It was cruel to dreamers and those who didn’t devote themselves to a life of war and violence but it was his world nonetheless. He lived here, his friends lived here, and his enemies lived and no matter how much he fought with them and hated some of them he knew they all deserved better.

They all deserved to live a life free of pain and suffering and simply lead lives of peace and happiness and Tommy was going to fight for it. He was going to raise Hell and bring down Heaven and make the world  _ tremble  _ because none of them deserved the lives they were leading.

And sure, they were the ones responsible for making this mess in the first place, but they were also the ones in charge of cleaning it up and making it better. The only problem was that people were too scared to break away from the lives they were leading. They made changes that would mean nothing in the long run because they were scared of change. They were scared of change because so far change only brought pain and small moments of happiness but Tommy knew it could bring so much  _ more _ if everyone just realized it like he had.

But despite the fact Tommy realized that  _ yes there was hope _ no was going to listen to him. Dream made sure of it. Dream made sure that when he exiled Tommy was painted as a reckless fool, which yeah, Tommy was a reckless fool. But he was so much more.

He was a kid who was forced to jump out the nest and learn to fly on the way down and he  _ did.  _ He learned to fly and he learned to sing by the same people who pushed him out of his nest. Tommy was full of hope and anger and simple need to  _ survive  _ and it was all he needed. He wanted friends and he wanted family but he had been proven time and time again that he was the only constant in his life.

He was a songbird that learned to defend himself against and fight the snakes and hawks in the world he lived in. But he was a kid that knew that his enemies and the ones who didn’t support him all deserved a chance at something greater than what they built for themselves.

Tommy was a foolish, reckless, and stubborn boy. But he was hopeful, honest, and an optimist. Because Tommy may have been a kid but he wasn’t naive. The people who cared about him made sure of that. But Tommy also knew that naivety didn’t mean conforming to tune others sung in the name of maturity. No, Tommy would sing his own song. No matter if no one listened, no matter if he forgot some of the notes, no matter if he didn’t want to sing it, he would never stop humming out a melody he crafted. And for the person who would try to stop him from singing. Well they would be as foolish if no more than he was.


End file.
